February 23, 2026
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
City Council will vote this week on bill from Councilmember Isaiah Thomas on letting Philadelphia employees campaign for state and federal offices without resigning their municipal position. The question would go to voters in May.
City employees who run for state or federal offices would be able to keep their jobs while campaigning under a proposal that will come up for a vote in City Council this week.
The resign-to-run rule has been in place since 1951 when the city's Home Rule Charter was adopted. It currently prohibits municipal workers – including those elected to Philadelphia City Council or any row office positions – from mounting a political campaign for any elected office while still an employee of the city.
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Councilmember at-large Isaiah Thomas (D) introduced the bill in the fall that potentially would change that rule, but not eliminate it completely. Thomas has proposed allowing employees, including elected officials, to seek office outside Philadelphia government without resigning their posts. The resignation requirement would remain in place for anyone running for mayor, district attorney or any row office seat.
For the change to be enacted, first it must pass in City Council. Then, because the proposal involves amending the Home Rule Charter, it ultimately would be decided by voters in the form of a ballot question, likely during the May primary.
Thomas originally proposed eliminating the resign-to-run rule entirely.
Three attempts to change resign-to-run in the last two decades have failed. The idea was rejected by voters in 2007 and 2014, and in 2020, legislation never made it out of City Council.
Supporters hope the narrower scope this time could make it more palatable to voters.
The impact of resign-to-run most recently was evident in the run-up to the 2023 mayoral election, when six of the 17 council members – Democrats Allan Domb, Derek Green, Helen Gym, Maria Quiñones-Sánchez and Cherelle Parker, along with Republican David Oh – stepped down to run for mayor. Rebecca Rhynhart also resigned as city controller to join the race. Only Parker currently holds an elected position.
Jordana Greenwald, an attorney for the Philadelphia Board of Ethics, spoke at Thursday's council meet and said the board proposed a list of recommendations for the legislation in December, but that not all of those changes were made. The changes were meant to prevent "additional politicization of the workplace that may result from the increased opportunity for current elected officials to run for office."
Thomas had tabled his bill back in December to work with the ethics board to address some concerns. He and other council members agree with "98% of those recommendations," he said, but some would require a second charter change. Per state law, there can only be one charter change on a topic at one time. If the first measure is approved, he plans to propose a second ballot measure to address some of those concerns.
"I am committed to multiple rounds of charter changes and ballot measures in order to put us in a position to get this done in a way that the Board of Ethics is supportive of, as long as the members of City Council, as well as the general public are supportive of that, too," Thomas said.
The Committee of Seventy, the nonpartisan government and election watchdog organization, said it supports the limited changes to the resign-to-run rule, but only if it is coupled with term limits for council members, creating "stronger safeguards for ethical, transparent government." The group suggests a three-term limit, allowing for current council member to serve three additional terms.
"Although Philadelphia has strong ethics and campaign-finance rules, they are not currently written to address the legal and ethical challenges that are sure to happen when sitting officials seek another office," the Committee of Seventy said in November when Thomas introduced his legislation.
